Hammer mill



] Nov. 3, 1936.-

c. F. .CRUMB'ET AL HAMMER MILL Filed June 25, 1954 3 Sheets-Sheet l 1c.'F'. CRUMB ET AL Nov. 3, 1936.

HAMMER M I LL Patented Nov. 3, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICIE HAMMERMILL Charles F. Crumb, Batavia, and Merr'iu w. Roscoe, Chicago, Ill.,assignors to International Harvester Company, Jersey a corporation ofNew Application June 25,1934, Serial No. 732,284

10 Claims.

tions affecting the rotor.

The invention also relates to an improved feed for hammer mills wherebydifferent kinds of material may be fed into the grinding chamber to bemixed in the grinding operation.

The objects of the-invention are to provide an improved drivingmechanism for the several feed means and controlled in operation by thespeed of the grinding rotor.

Another object is to provide an improved feed for mixing several kindsof material in the grinding operation.

Other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art as thedisclosure is more fully made.

Briefly, these desirable objects are achieved in the form herein shownby providing a grinding chamber having aroughage feed opening disposedabove a supplementary feed'opening for corn kernels, or other grains.Feeding mechanisms are associated with the respective openings, saidmechanisms being driven independently of the rotor drive, so that, whenclogging in the chamber occurs to choke and slow down the speed of therotor,'tlie said feed mechanisms may be momentarily stopped togetheruntil the clogging and choking condition has ended, whereupon thefeeding mechanisms automatically resume normal operation.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a plan view of a hammer mill embodying the improvements;

Figure 2 is a longitudinal cross sectional view of the mill taken alongthe line 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a transverse cross sectional view of the mill taken alongthe line 3-3 of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary elevational view of certain of the drivingparts; and,

Figure 5 is a detail View of the drive clutch controlling the operationof thefeeding mechanisms.

As shown in Figure 2, a reducing chamber III is formed by a pair ofupright spaced walls I I, I2, joined by a circular drum portion I3including a hinged cover portion I3 The wall I2 carries a box I 4supporting bearings I5 for a transverse drive shaft I6 which protrudesout of the box I4 to carry drive pulleys H. The shaft I9 carries acentrifugal governor I8 for a purpose later to appear.

The shaft I6 projects into the chamber II] where it carries the hub of adisk or rotor I9, said rotor carrying at spaced intervals pairs ofbrackets 20 supportingpins 2|, each in turn carrying swinging hammers 22that cooperate in the usual manner with a cylindrical screen 23 insidethe drum I3 to reduce the material in process.

Said rotor also carries a knife 24 cooperating with a stationary knifeor, shear bar 25 fitted in a support 26 mounted adjacent a feed opening21 formed in the wall I I, as shown. Below the knife support 26, thewall II is formed with a supplementary feed opening 28 for a purposelater 15 to appear.

vThe wall I I carries a feed housing 29, in the lower end ,of which isjournaled a transverse shaft 30 carrying a screw conveyer 3| adjacentthe lower or supplementary feed opening 28. Leading from the lower endof the feed housing 29 is a housing extension 32, as shown in Figure 1,carrying a communicating hopper 33 designed to feed corn or other grainsthrough the opening 28 into the rotor chamber ID, for mixing such grainswith the roughage material entering the chamber through the upper ormain feed opening 21 over the knife 25.

Immediately above the feed screw 3| is an intermediate transverse shaft34 also journaled 30 in the housing 29, said shaft carrying andoperating a lower feed roller 35 having tooth conformations on itssurface better to move the infed roughage to the knife 25, said toothconformations operating through cut-away portions 36 in 5 the support26, thus compactly associating the lower feed roller and knife 25 toinsure a better feed.

A third transverse shaft 31 is carried above the lower feed roller 35 inthe depending legs of a vertically slidable yoke 38 guided in the endwalls of the feedhousing 29 and carrying suitable journals at its lowerend for mounting the said shaft 31. This shaft3'I carries an upper feedroller 39 having suitable ribs thereon, as shown, for aggressivelyengaging the incoming roughage material. The upper end of the yoke, orbail, 38 carries one end of a tension spring 40, the other end of saidspring being anchored at M to the top side of the feed housing 29, asshown in Figure 2. The spring hook-up described is such that itconstantly exerts a force that yieldingly, or resiliently, holds theupper roller 39 down to duty in closeproximity to the lower feed roller35.

It is to benoted that these two feed rolls 35, 39

are positioned to move the roughage material over the knife 25 andthrough the upper feed opening 21 into the reducing chamber l6.

An elongated frame structure 42 including trough-shaped sides 43 ismounted on a frame piece 44 secured to the feed housing 29 andadditionally supported by a brace 45. Theframe 44 carries a transverseshaft 46 substantially on the same level with the lower feed rollershaft 34 in a position forwardly thereof. This shaft 46 carries at oneend a sprocket wheel 41 for applying power to the shaft. The shaft 46also carries a pair of sprocket wheels 48 to drive the two spaced chains49 of a suitable slatted, endless conveyer belt 59, upon which theroughage material is manually loaded to be delivered to the feedrollers. I

The sloped trough side walls 43 are bent up abruptly at their inner endsto form vertical side walls 5| connected to a pair of side angle ironframe pieces 52, the upper portion of each being vertically disposed andthe lower portion of each curving inwardly and downwardly toward thefeed rolls 35, 39. Across the top ends of the pieces 52 is acrossbar'53, to which are secured the upper ends of a series of spacedflat strips 54, which follow generally the curvature of the frame pieces52, the inner ends of these strips 54 sloping inwardly and downwardly,as shown in Figure 2, and terminating at points adjacent the upper feedroll 39. The inner ends of the strips 54 are supported suitably in fixedposition by braces 55 connected to the upper end of the feed housing 29.Thus, the space between the inner end of the conveyer 50, the sides 5|,and the strips 54 forms a feed throat into which the fluffy roughagematerial-crowds before it is moved to the feed rollers by the feedaiding mechanism now to be described.

The side walls 5| carry journals 56 for rotatably mounting a transversecrank shaft 51 above the feed throat described, the shaft having threecrank portions, each of which carries a journal block 58 for swingingfeeder forks 59. Each fork is U-shaped to present two fork legs ortines, as

shown in Figure 1, each pair of tines passingthrough the adjacentregistering pair of spaces or slots between the strips 54 in a mannerreadily understood. Extending upwardly from the journal box of each fork59 is an extension 6!), each extension at its free end being pivoted at6| to a link 62. The other end of these links is pivotally connected toa cross shaft 63 carried by the crosspiece 53 in any desired manner.By'this control mechanism the lower ends of the forkprongs 59 are heldto movement in an orbital path. As a result, each fork positively andaggressively engages the mass of fluffed up roughage material in thefeed throat at its upper part, the forks then compressing and forcingthe material downwardly against the conveyor 50 and directly into theconstricted inner portion of the feed throat in advance of the feedrollers 35, 39,-th'e material thus being evenly fed between the feedrollers,-which then take the material in a uniform mass and pass it overthe knife 25 and into the chamber l8. When the forks have accomplishedthis function, they rise gracefully and recede from the mass withoutinterfering with the desired smooth flow of material. The drive for thoperative parts will now be described. I

The main shaft I6 is driven by a belt around one of the pulleys l1mentioned, causing the rotor l9 and knife 24 to turn at high speed.Thus,-

these rotor parts are directly driven. The shaft l6 carries a worm 64driving a Worm gear 65 keyed to a sleeve 66 carrying a clutch part 61,said sleeve being loose on a cross shaft 68.

As shown in Figure 1, the shaft 68 carries a sprocket wheel 68 to drivea chain 69, which is trained around a sprocket wheel 10 on a shaft 1| todrive the same, said shaft being suitably supported in an appropriateframework 12. The chain 69 also drives a sprocket wheel 13 on the shaft30 to drive the screw conveyor 3|. The shaft 1| further carries a spurgear 14 driving a pinion 15 on the shaft 34, that carries and drives thelower feed roller 35. A sprocket chain drive connection 16 from theshaft 34 to the shaft 46 drives the main feed conveyor 50 and its drivechains 49 through the sprockets 48. A sprocket chain connection 11 fromthe shaft 1| drives a flexible shaft 18 joined to the upper feed rollershaft 31 to drive said roller. Finally, a sprocket chain connection 19from the shaft 1| drives the crank shaft 51, as shown, to operate thecrank feeder 59.

It is desirable to stop the drive for all of the feeding mechanisms 50,35, 39, 3| and 59 when the speed of the rotor l9 drops to apredetermined minimum because of choking in the grinding chamber I6,caused by overloading. Such stopping of the feed mechanisms is caused bythe speed responsive governor |8 on the rotor shaft l6 heretoforedescribed. Said governor moves a slidable collar 89 on the shaft l6, thecollar in turn operating a pivoted arm 8| adapted to constitute anabutment or stop in the path of movement of a pivoted trip arm orintermittent clutch part 82 turnable fast with the shaft 68. Said part82 carries a roller 83 pressed normally by a spring 84 into lockingengagement with roller seats 85 formed on the inner periphery of theconstantly rotating clutch part 61 already described. This type ofintermittent dog clutch is the usual clutch employed in harvesters andis well understood to those skilled in the art and, therefore, need notbe more fully described.

In operation, when the shaft I6 is pulley and belt driven, the rotor |9turns at high speed, so that the hammers 22 operate effectively to grindthe material fed into the drum. At the normal high speed of the shaft I6the centrifugal governor through the collar holds the stop arm 8| I outof the path of rotation of the driven clutch part 82, the spring 84being effective to cause the roller 83 to. lock with the constantlyrunning clutch part 61 to cause rotation of the cross shaft 68, thelatter moving at a relatively slow speed because of the reductiongearing 64, 65. The shaft 68 thus drives through the severalconnections, the feed rollers 35, 39, the screw conveyer 3|, theroughage feed conveyer 59, and the feed aiding forks 59. If the speed ofthe rotor goes down because of clogging, the governor l8 becomesinstantly operative to slide the collar 88 to move the stop 8| intoposition to engage the clutch part 82, as shown in Figure 5, to stop thedrive by locking the shaft 68 stationary. The governor automaticallymoves the stop 8| out of the clutch holding position when the cloggingcondition stops and the rotor regains normal speed.

From this description it can now be seen that an improved feed mechanismand control have been provided which achieve all of the desirableobjects heretofore recited.

It is the intention to cover all changes and modifications not departingfrom the spiritand scope of the invention which has been defined in thefollowingclaims.

What is claimed is:

1. A feed mill comprising an upright .drum enclosing a grinding rotor,said drum having a roughage feed opening, a shear bar carried in theopening, a knife on the rotor cooperating with the shear bar to cutroughage fed through said opening, a pair of superimposed feed rollersadjacent said roughage feed opening, means to feed roughage between saidrollers, said drum hav-' ing an auxiliary feed opening arranged belowthe roughage opening and shear bar, a hopper for directing othermaterial to a point under the feed rollers adjacent said auxiliaryopening, and a screw conveyer below the feed rollers and disposed atsubstantially a right angle to the aforementioned feed means for movingthe said other material through the auxiliary opening into the drum tobe ground and mixed with the roughage.

2. A feed mill comprising an upright drum enclosing a grinding rotor,said drum having a roughage feed opening, a shear bar carried in theopening, a knife on the rotor cooperating with the shear bar to cutroughagefed through said opening, a feeder housing adjacent the drum, apair of superimposed feed rollers in the honeing and adjacent saidroughage feed opening, means to feed roughage to said housing andbetween said rollers, said drum having an auxiliary feed openingarranged below the roughage opening and shear bar, a hopper fordirecting other material into the lowerend of the feeder housing belowsaid feed rollers and adjacent said auxiliary feed opening, and a screwconveyer in the bottom of the feed housing disposed at substantially aright angle to the roughage feeder and directly below the feed rollersfor moving said other material through the auxiliary feed opening intothe drum to be ground and mixed With the roughage.

3. A grinding mill comprising an upright drum having a grinding rotortherein and formed on one face with a pair of vertically aligned feedopenings, a feed housing adjacent said openings, three substantiallyvertically aligned shafts in said housing, a feed roller on each of theupper two shafts adjacent the upper feed opening, a screw conveyer onthe lower shaft adjacent the lower opening, means to feed roughage tothe feed rollers, and means to feed other material to the screwconveyer, said screw conveyer moving the other material through thelower feed opening into the drum.

4. A mill comprising an upright drum carrying a main horizontal driveshaft and a rotor thereon within the drum, a governor on the driveshaft, said drum provided on one face with a pair of vertically spacedfeed openings, a feed housing adjacent the openings, a pair of feedrollers in the housing for delivering roughage into the drum along aline at right angles to the face of the rotor through the upper opening,a screw conveyer in the housing below the feed rollers for deliveringother material into the drum through the loweropening and atsubstantially a right angle to the aforementioned line of feed, a feederframe adjacent the feed housing and forming a throat portion in advanceof the feed rollers, a conveyer on the frame for feeding roughage to thefeed rollers, a fork feeder over the throat to move the material fromthe conveyer between the feed rollers, a shaft including a clutch drivenfrom the main drive shaft, means for driving the conveyer, fork feeder,feed rollers and screw conveyer from said clutch shaft, and meansoperated by the governor for throwing out the clutch to stop the driveto all the feeding means mentioned when the speed of the rotor falls toa predetermined minimum.

5. A mill comprising an upright drum carrying a main horizontal driveshaft and a rotor thereon within the drum, said drum provided on oneface with a pair of vertically spaced feed openings, a feed housingadjacent the openings, a pair of feed rollers in the housing fordelivering roughage into the drum through the upper opening, a screwconveyer in the housing below the feed rollers for delivering othermaterial into the drum through the lower opening, a feeder frameadjacent the feed housing and forming a throat portion in advance of thefeed rollers, a conveyer on the frame for feeding roughage to the feedrollers, said last mentioned conveyer and the screw conveyer beingdisposed at substantially a right angle .relative'to each other, a

fork feeder over the throat to move the material from the conveyerbetween the feed rollers, a shaft driven from the main drive shaft, andmeans for driving the conveyer, fork feeder, feed rollers and screwconveyer from said driven shaft.

6. A mill comprising an upright drum carrying a main horizontal driveshaft and arotor thereon within the drum, a governor on the drive shaft,said drum provided on one face with a pair of vertically spaced feedopenings, a feed housing adjacent the openings, a pair of feed rollersin the housing for delivering roughage into the drum through the upper.opening, amovable conveyer disposed in the housing below the feedrollers and at substantially a right angle to the axis of the rotor fordelivering other material into the drum through the lower opening, afeeder frame adjacent the feed housing and forming a throat portion inadvance of the feed rollers, means on the frame for feeding roughage tothe feed rollers, a fork feeder over the throat to move the materialfrom the said feeding means between the feed rollers, a shaft includinga clutch driven from the main drive shaft, means for driving all of thefeeding and conveying means from said clutch shaft, and means operablefrom the governor for throwing out the clutch to stop the drive to allthe feeding means mentioned when the speed of the rotor falls to apredetermined minimum.

7. A mill comprising a drum carrying a main drive shaft and a rotorthereon within the drum, said drum provided on one face with a pair ofspaced feed openings, a feed housing adjacent the openings, a pair offeed rollers in the housing for delivering roughage into the drumthrough one opening, a screw conveyer in the housing for deliveringother material into the drum through the other opening, a feeder frameadjacent the feed housing and forming a throat portion adjacent the feedrollers, a conveyer on the frame for feeding roughage to the feedrollers, a fork feeder to move the material from the conveyer to thefeed rollers, a shaft driven from the main drive shaft, and means fordriving the conveyer, fork feeder, feed rollers and screw conveyer fromsaid driven shaft.

8. A mill comprising an upright drum carrying a main horizontal driveshaft and a rotor thereon within the drum, a governor on the driveshaft, said drum provided on one face with a pair of vertically spacedfeed openings, a feed housing adjacent the openings, feed rollers in thehousing for delivering roughage into the drum through the upper opening,a screw conveyer in the housing below the feed rollers and disposed atsubstantially a right angle to the axis of the rotor for deliveringother material into the drum through the lower opening, a feeder frameadjacent the feed housing and forming a throat portion in advance of thefeed rollers, a conveyer on the frame for feeding roughage to the feedrollers, a fork feeder over the throat to move the material from theconveyer to the feed rollers, a shaft including a clutch driven atreduced speed from the main drive shaft, means for driving the conveyer,fork feeder, feed rollers and screw conveyer from said clutch shaft, andmeans operated by the governor for throwing out the clutch to stop thedrive to all the feeding means mentioned when the speed of the rotorshaft falls to a predetermined minimum.

9. A mill comprising an upright drum carrying a main horizontal driveshaft and a rotor thereon within the drum, a governor on the driveshaft, said drum provided on one face with a pair of vertically spacedfeed openings, a feed housing adjacent the openings, a pair of feedrollers in the housing for delivering roughage into the drum along aline at right angles to the face of the rotor through the upper opening,a screw conveyer in the housing below the feed rollers for deliveringother material into the drum through the lower opening and atsubstantially a right angle to the aforementioned line of feed, a feederframe adjacent the feed housing and forming a throat portion in advanceof the feed rollers, a conveyer on the frame for feeding roughage to thefeed rollers, an overhead feeder above the throat to cooperate with theconveyer to move the material positively between the feed rollers, ashaft including a clutch driven from the main drive shaft, means fordriving the conveyer, overhead feeder, feed rollers and screw conveyerfrom said clutch shaft and means operable by the governor for throwingout the clutch to stop the drive to all of the feeding means when thespeed of the rotor falls to a predetermined minimum.

10. A mill comprising an upright drum carrying a main horizontal driveshaft and a rotor thereon within the drum, a governor on the driveshaft, said drum provided on one face with a pair of vertically spacedfeed openings, a feed housing adjacent the openings, horizontal feedrollers in the housing for delivering roughage between them into thedrum through the upper opening, a conveyer in the housing below the feedrollers for delivering other material into the drum through the loweropening, a feeder frame adjacent the feed housing and providing a throatportion in advance of the feed rollers, a roughage conveyer on the framefor feeding roughage to the feed rollers, a feeder over the throat androughage conveyer to move the material with the roughage conveyer to andbetween the feed rollers, a shaft including a clutch driven at reducedspeed from the main drive shaft, means for driving the roughageconveyer, feeder, feed rollers and first conveyer from said clutchshaft, and means operated by the governor for throwing out the clutch tostop the drive to all the feeding means mentioned when the speed of therotor shaft falls to a predetermined minimum.

CHARLES F. CRUMB. MERRILL W. ROSCOE.

CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION.

Patent No. 2,059,516. November 3, 1936.

CHARLES F. CRUMB, ET AL.

It is hereby certified that error appears in the above numbered patentrequiring correction as follows: In the grant, lines 1 and 2, and in theheading to the printed specification, lines 5 and 4, in the residencesof the patentees, for "Batavia" read Chicago and for "Chicago" readBatavia; and page 3, second column, line 62, claim 7, after "housing"insert the words disposed at substantially a right angle to the axis ofthe rotor; and that the said Letters Patent should be read with thesecorrections therein that the same may conform to the record of the casein the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 5th day of January, A. D. 1957.

Henry Van Arsdale (Seal) Acting Commissioner of Patents.

